Parade

Ask Marilyn: Is Being Brief Considered Rude?

Jeff Marchant of Port Jervis, New York, writes:

Marilyn: You are so good at communicating much information with brevity. Do people sometimes interpret that as rudeness? (I am reminded of Lincoln's address at Gettysburg. So many were actually insulted by the short speech!) Marilyn responds:

I don't think I've ever been called rude by anyone, although now that I've published this statement, I'm sure that someone will. That aside, my brevity—which is necessary in the magazine—does cause a problem: Experts (and others!) often write to say that I haven't used accurate wording or stated the facts quite right or that my explanation lacks necessary information. But I don't have anywhere near enough space for that kind of detail, and even if I did, I wouldn't use it that way. I don't want my column to read like a textbook, and no one else does, either.